android by 32 comments

Android prompt user input dialog example

In this tutorial, we will enchance the previous AlertDialog example, to make it able to accept user input, just like a PromptDialog. More specific, this is a custom AlertDialog example.

See following steps :

  1. Create a prompt dialog layout (XML file).
  2. Attach the prompt dialog layout to AlertDialog.Builder.
  3. Attach the AlertDialog.Builder to AlertDialog.
  4. Done.

P.S This project is developed in Eclipse 3.7, and tested with Android 2.3.3.

Note
You may interest to read this custom dialog example.

1 Android Layout Files

Two XML files, one for main screen, one for prompt dialog.

File : res/layout/main.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >
 
    <Button
        android:id="@+id/buttonPrompt"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Show Prompt Dialog" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/editTextResult"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

    </EditText>
            
</LinearLayout>

File : res/layout/prompts.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/layout_root"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:padding="10dp" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textView1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Type Your Message : "
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/editTextDialogUserInput"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

        <requestFocus />

    </EditText>

</LinearLayout>

2. Activity

Read the comment and demo in next step, it should be self-explorary.

File : MainActivity.java


package com.mkyong.android;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.AlertDialog;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.DialogInterface;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.EditText;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

	final Context context = this;
	private Button button;
	private EditText result;

	public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
		setContentView(R.layout.main);

		// components from main.xml
		button = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonPrompt);
		result = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.editTextResult);

		// add button listener
		button.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

			@Override
			public void onClick(View arg0) {

				// get prompts.xml view
				LayoutInflater li = LayoutInflater.from(context);
				View promptsView = li.inflate(R.layout.prompts, null);

				AlertDialog.Builder alertDialogBuilder = new AlertDialog.Builder(
						context);

				// set prompts.xml to alertdialog builder
				alertDialogBuilder.setView(promptsView);

				final EditText userInput = (EditText) promptsView
						.findViewById(R.id.editTextDialogUserInput);

				// set dialog message
				alertDialogBuilder
					.setCancelable(false)
					.setPositiveButton("OK",
					  new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
					    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,int id) {
						// get user input and set it to result
						// edit text
						result.setText(userInput.getText());
					    }
					  })
					.setNegativeButton("Cancel",
					  new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
					    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog,int id) {
						dialog.cancel();
					    }
					  });

				// create alert dialog
				AlertDialog alertDialog = alertDialogBuilder.create();

				// show it
				alertDialog.show();

			}
		});
	}
}

3. Demo

Start it, the “main.xml” layout is display a button and edittext (result).

android prompt user input example

Click on the button, display a prompt dialog “prompts.xml” layout, type message “mkyong“, and click on the “OK” button.

android prompt user input example

User input “mkyong” will pass to the “main.xml” layout, edittext (result), and display it.

android prompt user input example

Download Source Code

Download it – Android-Prompt-Dialog-Example.zip (16 KB)

References

  1. Android AlertDialog Javadoc
  2. Android Dialog example
  3. Android custom dialog example

32 comments on “Android prompt user input dialog example”

  7. Your code is working ok under such simple and unlikely situations.
    But what do I have to do if (in more complicated and realistic situations) I need to know the answer of the user to continue for instance “continue yes / no”. The .show() doesn’t wait, the code after it is executed before the dialog shows and the user answers.

    Reply

  9. I understood everything but i have one question. How can i disable the “OK” Button if there is nothing in the userInput?

    Reply

  20. Thank you very much for all of these awesome tutorials… They have helped me very much.. Keep up this awesome work..

    Reply

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    Reply

  24. Can you please explain how can i get java to read an XML file, also how can i make the program to prompt user for files from XML and display them after?? I would be really thankful if you/anyone could help me??

    Reply

  27. Thanks, reading values from inflated custom layout can be a bit tricky..if you try to use findViewById without referencing to the inflated view.

    Reply

  29. Very great tutorial … can u plz give the example of custom dialog with “textview” and
    “edittext” and a “Button” something should be happen when udser clicks on the button

    Reply

    1. hii how to runtime set edittext or textview value from sting in this promptview dialog

      Example :

      final EditText editusername = (EditText) promptsView.findViewById(R.id.editusername);
      editusername.settext(username);

      when i set like this it gives me error

      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): java.lang.NullPointerException
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at com.montor.werbungstudio.HomeActivityNew$3.onClick(HomeActivityNew.java:498)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:4274)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:17357)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:615)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4949)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1043)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:810)
      06-11 08:47:40.242: E/AndroidRuntime(22247): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

      Reply

        1. final TextView textuser=(TextView)promptsView.findViewById(R.id.textuser);
          final EditText editpassword = (EditText) promptsView.findViewById(R.id.editpassword);
          String currentuser=”E-Mail: “+susername;
          textuser.setText(currentuser);

          share your code here if it is not working

          Reply

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